"I still can't figure out exactly which operations are expensive in Python. My C/C++ can't help me much because it seems that things aren't implemented like I'd've expected--like lists that aren't lists, but array lists, leading to for operations you would otherwise expect to be ."But a friend of mine--Olivier--showed me a simple, basic, yet rather effective tool to profile Python programs (I'm not sure if I should say script or not).

"The tool, RunSnakeRun, inserts hooks in the Python interpreter to build a report of where time is spent, a bit à la Valgrind/Kcachegrind but much simpler, and to display the results using both tables and a rectangular tree-structured inclusion graph (a "SquareMap")."

"The skimmer components typically include a card skimmer that fits over the card acceptance slot and steals the data stored on the card's magnetic stripe, and a pinhole camera built into a false panel that thieves can fit above or beside the PIN pad. If these components don't match just-so, they're more likely to be discovered and removed by customers or bank personnel, leaving the thieves without their stolen card data."Enter the 3D printer. This fascinating technology, explained succinctly in the video below from 3D printing company i.materialise, takes two dimensional computer images and builds them into three dimensional models by laying down successive layers of powder that are heated, shaped and hardened."

This has the potential to turn into something bad. Well, it already has.

Word used to ship with Autosave. But you had to enable it. And people didn't (because people don't change defaults, and they thought Microsoft had disabled it for a well-considered reason). But why was it disabled?

"It turns out the reason the feature was disabled in that release was not because they had thought about the user's needs. Instead, it was because a programmer had made a decision to initialize the config.ini file with all zeroes. Making a file filled with zeroes is a quick little program, so that's what he wrote, assuming that, at some point later, someone would tell him what the "real defaults" should be. Nobody ever got around to telling him."Since zero in binary means off, the autosave setting, along with a lot of other settings, were automatically disabled. The users' assumption that Microsoft had given this careful consideration turned out not to be the case."

"Fortinet, a leading network security provider and the worldwide leader of unified threat management (UTM) solutions - released its latest Threat Landscape, report, which reveals the fake antivirus loader W32/FraudLoad.OR accounted for 58 percent of the new malware activity tracked in August. "Traditionally, FraudLoad installs fake antivirus utilities on an unsuspecting user's system, but in our labs, we found that it is all too common for botnet loaders to download additional malware such as spam bots," said Derek Manky, Senior Security strategist at Fortinet."Right behind FraudLoad, a newly discovered Zeus botnet variant was the second most active malware this period."

"I have a hunch, which would be hard to quantify, that a significant portion of iPad sales are being put to use in small business in some way shape or form."I have talked to restaurant owners using them to take orders and send automatically back the kitchen. I have talked to financial advice firms using them for notes, organization, and to walk clients through data. We have talked to consultancies, legal firms, small boutique shop owners, automobile dealerships, photographers and a host of other types of small businesses and nearly all of them are finding creative ways to integrate the iPad into their business."Interestingly so far in our study over 85% of small business owners we surveyed are either using the iPad in some way or plan to purchase and use one within the next year."Note however that this is after talking to "more than two dozen small businesses". A broader survey might be nice. Notable: helped some win against businesses that didn't use iPads. (Android? Too few apps.)

"Microsoft's huge presence at the event indicates a significant announcement. Nokia is expected to unveil its first Windows Phone device at Nokia World and Microsoft appears to be waiting in the wings with its best personnel to ensure Nokia's audience is well informed of the Windows Phone benefits."

That's going to make it a very different atmosphere from last year's Nokia World, where the company had just ejected its chief executive and was busy seeing members of the board hit ejector seats.

Oh, and who mentioned that the first Windows Phones wouldn't appear from Nokia until October? We did.